“Remoted” – Day 459 (Friday)

In a vacation day miracle, Moose let us sleep until 7:30.  After feeding the dogs, delivering their medication, making coffee, and having a shower, it felt like half the day was over. It was a little disorienting.

Outdoor lunch dining.

Mom and I had soft plans for today, meaning, a week ago we said “We should do something,” but hadn’t yet specified what or where. This morning we decided to meet to for lunch and then visit an antique shop in a town roughly halfway between our respective locations. It was a nice day to finally drive the Jeep more than a mile. The sun roof was open, the radio was on and the chosen route was a nice ride past cows and barns and New England churches and old timey town halls.

Our lunch spot had a patio shaded by trees and umbrellas and flower boxes bursting with dark purple petunias. When we first arrived and were waiting in the parking lot for the noon opening, a bus pulled in. A literal bus, emblazoned with the name of a senior residential community. Full of people. We panicked for a second, but our worry about seating and service was for naught. Burgers were had. They were delicious. Our server was terrific.

The antiques shop we chose to visit is large, tidy, and nicely arranged as in, not cluttered with dusty stuff. There is room to move around comfortably. It’s the opposite of the cluttered co-op we  used to visit frequently.

When we arrived, there were no vehicles in the parking lot and we thought maybe it wasn’t open, but then we saw that the lights were on. There was a lot of cool stuff in the antiques store including carousel horses and some interesting photos in nice Nielsen metal frames priced at barely the cost of the frame, but nothing either of us needed or really wanted. That is often the case, but it’s still always fun to look.

Once back in Lowell, I finally visited the new Marshall’s that is next to the New Market Basket not far from my house. I say “new,” but it’s not like it opened last week. Market Basket opened last October, and Marshall’s has been open for months, and for months I’ve been thinking, “Someday I’ll go in there.” There were some shoes I liked, and I even subjected myself to the torture of the fitting rooms and trying on jeans. Let’s just say that trying on jeans was not a successful endeavor and leave it at that. The shoes also remained at the store, because I liked them, but I didn’t love them enough to open the wallet. I didn’t venture into Market Basket, which I’ve heard is quite nice, but visiting a grocery store without a plan and a list is just reckless.